Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

This play, which made Tom Stoppard’s name in the 60’s, could just as easily be entitled “two characters in search of a plot” – and of the meaning of life - as the courtiers, minor players from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, take centre stage.

Whilst the real action unfolds mainly unseen, they wait, Godot-like, for their entrances and exits, passing the time with existential musings and witty word games.

Reuniting two original “History Boys” (Samuel Barnett, an anxious, unworldly Rosencrantz and Jamie Parker’s more solid Guildenstern) Trevor Nunn’s respectful production still impresses, though at times Stoppard’s clever conceit now seems over-contrived and under-edited.

Theatre Royal Haymarket, Haymarket, SW1Y 4HT (0845 481 1870) Tube: Piccadilly Circus trh.co.uk Until August 20 (£17.00-£50.00)